Part of the talent pool that is the Long Island Sky Hawks RC club, Lou Cetrangelo will again be competing at Top Gun with his very impressive Spitfire Mk. IX. Powered by an 110cc 3W inline twin cylinder engine, Lou’s airplane started out as a CARF-Models ARF Spitfire kit. Lou engineered it so the engine cowling was as clean looking as possible with little or no extra cooling openings.

He first considered water cooling but that was too complex with removable wings. Lou ended up with an air duct system that takes the air from the scale scoop at the bottom of the cowl and routes it between the engine’s cooling fins.

Airflow then exits through an air duct to the starboard side of the fuselage, through the right wing panel, and out the radiator opening.

He added two 12V computer fans in the ducting to improve cooling during idling and taxiing. Lou used RC telemetry to monitor the head temperature, and after a lot of patience and a year of trial and error, he tweaked the cooling design until it worked reliably. The Spitfire has a span of 102 inches, is 88 inches long, and weighs in at 36 pounds. Lou is using a JR 2.4GHz radio system with Hitec digital servos, Sierra Giant retracts, and four A123 2300mAh battery packs from NoBS.

The Spitfire is painted with Klass Kote epoxy paint, using masks that Red5 Designs created from his own artwork. Lou added his own wing blisters, dummy navigation lights, strut covers, spinner, and muffler using the scale exhaust ports.

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About the author

Senior Technical Editor About Me: I have a lifelong passion for all things scale, and I love to design, build and fly scale RC airplanes. With 20 plus years as part of the Air Age family of magazines, I love producing Model Airplane News and Electric Flight.

19 Responses to “Road to Top Gun — Spectactular Spitfire”

Love the Spit, I have a 1/5 scale Pica that needed extra help with cooling but the muffler I used was too restrictive. I would like to see the exhaust system on this spit and does it actually quiet the sound to meet most club restrictions.

The spitfire is just one word fantastic . This is what flying is all about ,I would like as my last wish before I leave this earth ,is to have a flight in a MK 9 Super marine Spitfire and have what must be the ultimate experience of flight . I would just like to say to the owner of this beautiful spitfire ,you have built your spitfire to perfection . I am just starting out at the age of nearly 66 learning to fly ..and I just would like to have that thrill of piloting my little RC aircraft ..i will get there as the saying goes… take the lumps and bumps and patience .Thank you , Archie .

Saw this Spit fly last year at TOP GUN, spectacular flyer! Super nice guy too, willing to talk about his work. The annoucer always highlighted it during the competition, even though he kept saying it was a 3 cylinder…

When stationed out at Suffolk Co. Air Force Base, several of us Started an RC club Called the Suffolk Falcons. Some out there might remember Don McGovern and Gene Rogers they were both members also. Nice to see RC is still healthy up there. By he way I am and East Rockaway Kid. Moved to Missouri through marriage and Retired Military Service.